BLAKELY — Surprise, surprise.

The 10-and-under Sumter County Tornadoes live-arm baseball team was two runs away from a state GRPA baseball championship.

After battling through the losers’ bracket, they beat Blakely-Early County 11-8 to force the decisive game before falling 14-13 on Saturday.

“Compared to how we’d been playing, it was a little bit of a surprise,” said coach Mike Ragsdale. “But I felt like if we could ever get a win and get going, and if he kids could get their confidence going, they would be fine.”

The team was knocked out of the Little League sub-district with 11-1 and 9-7 losses, but Ragsdale said he started to see the team come together in the second game.

Blakely-Early County had already beaten Sumter 20-8 in the second game of the GRPA tournament before making it back to the championship.

Reid Ragsdale was 3-for-3, and Michael Hudgins was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI as Sumter won the first game 11-8. The Tornadoes trailed 8-1 entering the bottom of the third of the decisive game before taking a 9-8 lead in the bottom half of the inning.

Blakely led 12-10 entering the sixth and built a 14-10 lead heading into the Tornadoes’ final at-bat. Noah Young’s RBI-single brought Sumter to within 14-13 with no outs before Blakely retired the next three batters to win the game.

“Going into the championship, we had nothing to lose,” said Ragsdale. “They beat us pretty handily the first time, and the only thing we told them was to go out and give it all they had and don’t leave anything on the field.

“We played hard, and we were aggressive at the plate and on the bases. A hit here or there, and we win the whole thing.”

Reid Ragsdale was 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBI in the game, and Young was 3-for-4 with two RBI.

Sumter started the GRPA tournament with a 20-11 win before Blakely sent it to the loser’s bracket with a 20-8 loss. Sumter beat Trion (10-4) and Rockmart County (9-6) before playing Tift County, the team that beat it in the Kiwanis Tournament final.

The Tornadoes trailed 11-9 entering the top of the sixth, and they took the lead on a Hudgins single.

With one out in the bottom of the inning, Parker Munn made a game-saving play in left field. The ball hit his glove, bounced off his head, and Munn managed to corral it before it hit the ground.

Tift loaded the bases with two outs and hit a grounder to second for the final out of the game.

This was the first year the Sumter County Parks and Recreation Department implemented live-arm baseball for the age group, and it did take some getting used to, said Ragsdale. He said he was glad pitching came together when it did.

“They never gave up the entire tournament,” said Ragsdale. “Pitching was the big thing, and I guess you can look at it two different ways. We were kind of the guinea pigs being the first 10-and-under live-arm team. In the end, I don’t think I could ask for anything better.”